February 16, 2003 - B
"A Good Philosophy"
So up we got, finally after a few weeks of missing it, to the Unitarian Universalist meeting. I'm glad we did. The speaker spoke on the Tao, and was very interesting. Being a teacher by weekday, he passed out papers for us to read, and used the chalk board. He explained there are two aspects to Tao, one being the religious side, with its festivals and traditions, and one being the PHILOSOPHICAL side. He spoke on its philosophical side.
One of the Taoist poems in the handouts especially spoke to me:
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To talk little is natural. High winds do not last all morning. Heavy rain does not last all day. Why is this? Heaven and earth! If heaven and earth cannot make things How is it possible for man?
He who follows the Tao
He who does not trust enough
# 23 from the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, |
''To talk little is natural,'' this is a relief to my naturally shy soul. ''High winds do not last all morning, Heavy rain does not last all day.'' This is comforting, for it tells me whatever current troubles one has, they will pass.
''Why is this? Heaven and earth!'' Why is this? Because it is in the nature of things, the yin with the yang, everything is in balance.
The next few lines are fairly self-evident. Then the next lines tugged at my heart, ''When you are at one with loss, The loss is experienced willingly.'' What is the difference between being 'at one' with loss, and NOT being 'at one'? Right after Laura passed away, I was NOT 'at one' with this loss. It tore at me. Later, I was able to find richness in the sorrow, for although nothing could ever bring her back, ''It is not love that has died.''
The grief is easier to take if we experience it 'willingly'. Often, loss is something over which we have no control. To fight it only makes its endurance more difficult. As our teacher, whose name I do not know, explained Tao is about FLOW, understanding it to be 'natural law', the 'watercourse of nature', that which 'happens of itself'. Quite often, we get where we want to be by 'swimming with the current'. This is especially true in matters over which we have no control.
And finally, ''He who does not trust enough Will not be trusted'' tells me to TRUST that FLOW, that the currents of life happen for a reason. The bad things will pass. The good will return. Opening my heart to TRUST will enable others to find confidence in me, as well, for they will sense a grounded nature. Stability of temperment engenders stability of temperment.
There was a reading out of the hymnal about how to have peace. It starts, ''If there is to be peace in the world,'' and goes to increasingly smaller entities, until it ends with ''There must be peace in one's heart.'' So there it is, we cannot control the world, but we can have peace in our hearts, and from that, all else begins.
So as I look to the world, and the worrisome events we can neither control nor predict, I will endeavor to 'take one day at a time', and learn a peaceful trust. It is a good philosophy.
February 17, 2003
"Writing And Dreaming"
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When I'm writing I don't dream much; it's like the dreaming gets used in the writing. --Ursula K. LeGuin |
That was the writer's daily quote for today. The list-owner confirmed this with her experience. But it doesn't ring true to mine.
I woke with a rather vivid dream this morning. I'd been playing one of my stories characters in my dreams. But he was doing something NOT true to his character. He was doing something another of my more rascally characters would do.
See, "in real book life" his 'brother' Sebby would go after a flirtation on the web. He does things like that. But not stable, sturdy Michael. He wouldn't do such a thing.
Michael
Perhaps it was a lack of knowledge regarding certain phrases, popular cultural icons, even daily aspects of going to a large public school, and such things that must have given him away. ''You're not a seventeen year old high school student, ARE YOU?'' Michael blushed, as he admitted, ''Uh, I was uh, sorta HOME-SCHOOLED!''
Encouraged her probings were getting somewhere, she then demanded of the small man, ''Tell me, just what have you presented as yourself that's actually TRUE?'' After a moment's hesitation, he admitted, ''Ugh, my name IS Michael, and I'm a guy . . .''
The girl exclaimed with triumph, ''I THOUGHT SO! So HOW OLD are you?'' He squirms and hesitates some more, ''Age doesn't really matter, you know . . .''
But she had the cute gray eyed guy on the rack, she knows it, and demands, ''Come on, OUT with it.'' A faint hint of panic was discernable in his voice, as he puts his hand to his forehead, ''Let me think, I have to do some math here. I'm not good at math . . .''
He blushes as he confessed after some calculations, ''Um, would you believe 234 years old?'' And then he added in quick, clipped words, ''We met on an e-mail list for vampires. You can't fault me for that. Remember that!''
The young woman was NOT satisfied. ''So WHY did you lie to me?'' Squirming miserably, he admitted, ''I didn't think anyone would believe the real truth!''
Before she had a chance to respond, Michael found himself abruptly transported to a soft bed and it was already daylight.
Then a haze came over him, and his consciousness ebbed, to be taken over by that of a sleepy middle-aged mortal woman.
